Shloka 22

Devanagari script

भूरिश्रवा महेष्वासस्तथा प्रायगतो रणे । क्रोशतां भूमिपालानां युयुधानेन पातितः,महाधनुर्थधर भूरिश्रवा तो रणभूमिमें अनशन व्रत लेकर बैठ गये थे। उस अवस्थामें समस्त भूमिपाल चिल्ला-चिल्लाकर रोकते ही रह गये; परंतु सात्यकिने उन्हें मार गिराया

Transliteration

Bhūriśravā maheṣvāsaḥ tathā prāyagato raṇe | Krośatāṃ bhūmipālānāṃ yuyudhānena pātitaḥ ||

Translation

Dijo Kṛpa: «Bhūriśravā, aquel gran arquero, en medio de la batalla había asumido el voto de ayunar hasta la muerte. Aunque los reyes clamaban a gritos para impedirlo, fue abatido por Yuyudhāna (Sātyaki)».

Word by Word

भूरिश्रवाBhūrishravas (a warrior)

महेष्वासःgreat archer

तथाthus/also

प्रायगतःhaving gone to (death), near death

रणेin battle

क्रोशताम्of (those) crying out

भूमिपालानाम्of kings/earth-protectors

युयुधानेनby Yuyudhāna (Sātyaki)

पातितःfelled/struck down

Speaker

कृप उवाच

Characters & Entities

Kṛpa

Bhūriśravā

Yuyudhāna (Sātyaki)

bhūmipāla (kings/rulers)

raṇa (battlefield)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the ethical tension between martial victory and dharma: even in war, the treatment of an opponent who has laid down arms or undertaken a death-vow (prāya) is morally charged. Kṛpa’s framing underscores that public protest by other kings could not prevent an act seen as transgressing accepted battlefield norms.

What is happening in the narrative?

Kṛpa recounts that Bhūriśravā, famed as a great archer, had sat on the battlefield observing a fast unto death. Despite the loud cries of surrounding kings, Yuyudhāna (Sātyaki) struck him down, an episode remembered as contentious within the war’s moral landscape.